What is a Twitter list? Part 1

This weekend a very good friend of mine said something quite shocking, “What’s a Twitter list?” In all fairness she actually knew what a list was; she just didn’t understand how to create or use them.

It made me think that there are probably many others just like her who don’t understand Twitter lists and how to make the best use of them. If this sounds like you then please allow me to explain:

Explanation of Twitter Lists: Twitter lists are the equivalent of a filing cabinet in an office. You can file people neatly into categories based upon whatever criteria you choose. Examples include: Women in business, Animal lovers, Entrepreneurs, etc. Once you have interesting people filed neatly in a category of your choosing, you can easily pull out the file at any time and see what everyone in that particular category is up to. You can easily review only their tweets and stay on top of only their activities without wading through the millions of other people you aren’t interested in reviewing at that time. Lists are an amazing timesaver!! In addition to simply keeping people organized, they also let you quickly cut through the noise and join in conversations with others who have similar interests. And depending on the level of security you choose, some of these filing cabinets (Twitter lists) will be open to the public while others will be kept strictly under lock and key.

List Limitations: Unfortunately Twitter lists are not without limitations. At this time you can only create a total of 20 lists and each list can only have up to 500 people in it.

How to Create a List: There are 2 ways to create a list on Twitter. When you login to your Twitter account you’ll see a Lists section in the right sidebar. Click the “new list” link to create a new list.

Or if you find someone you want to follow and you need to create a new list for them, you can create a new list directly from that person’s profile page. Underneath the person’s picture and name on their profile page you’ll see a button on the right called “Lists”. Click this button and you’ll get a drop down menu. Choose “New List”. You can also add them to any other lists you’ve already created by checking the boxes next to those lists in the drop down menu.

Once you’ve clicked on the “new list” link, a window will pop open and ask you three things
1) The name of your list
2) A description of your list
2) Whether it’s a public list for anyone to see or a private list for only your eyes.

The name you choose for your list will also be the list’s URL. It will look something like “twitter.com/username/list-name”.

Public Lists – These lists can be seen by anyone and anyone can follow them. Listing someone publically is a great way to show them you have an interest in who they are and what they do.

Private Lists – Private lists are just that. They are private. No one can see them but you. Even the people you add to your private lists won’t be able to tell they’ve been added. For example: You may want to keep tabs on your clients or prospects but you wouldn’t want anyone else to know who they are.

Don’t forget you can also follow other people’s public lists. This is a good way to keep track of a large group of people if you don’t want to go list them individually yourself.

I hope you’ve found Part 1 on Twitter lists to be beneficial. Next week I’ll be posting Part 2 and will be sharing some information about managing your lists. I’d love to hear your comments and questions!

Is your business ready to begin outsourcing?
As many of you know I recently launched a very special report called, “Hiring Out Social Media Tasks: How To Get Help Without Losing Control”. On August 26th I’ll be holding a follow up teleseminar to answer your questions and share some more great information such as:

1. What you can expect from social media marketing
2. Find out if you are a delegator or a doer – Should you hire a virtual assistant or can you feasibly learn to do it yourself?
3. Get specifics on tasks that are safe to delegate and how they can be delegated
4. And much, much more!

If you’ve ever considered outsourcing even a portion of your social media tasks then this report and teleseminar will be invaluable to you!

Not ready to begin outsourcing just yet?
Lots of small business owners either can’t afford to hire assistance or they simply need to gain an understanding of how things work before they hire someone to help. Very often they ask me about mentoring opportunities so they can learn to implement their own social media marketing plans.

Win FREE Social Media Mentoring!
It’s with that in mind that I’ve decided to hold a contest in honor of our whitepaper launch. I’ll be giving away two FREE social media mentoring packages.

Want to win? Check out this link for more detailed informationhttp://bit.ly/ak6yp4

Happy Tweeting!